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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27869386">empty mini bottles</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleQueenTrashMouth/pseuds/LittleQueenTrashMouth'>LittleQueenTrashMouth</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:35:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,482</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27869386</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleQueenTrashMouth/pseuds/LittleQueenTrashMouth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>On a standard plane ride to Cancun, flight attendant Yue is captivated by the beautiful woman buying everybody drinks in first class.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katara/Yue (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>empty mini bottles</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/tashii/gifts">tashii</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Is this a song fic? Based on the song "Drunk on a Plane" by Dierks Bentley, because sometimes you're on a 4 hour drive listening to country music and get INSPIRED. Just so everyone knows I have NEVER flown first class so if things are wrong, I'm sorry. </p>
<p>This fic is a birthday present to irresistible-revolution, pls wish her happy birthday on tumblr if you haven't done so yet! Lesbian rights!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <i>It's Mardi Gras up in the clouds<br/>
I'm up so high, I may never come down<br/>
I'll try anything to drown out the pain<br/>
They all know why I'm getting drunk on a plane</i>
</p><hr/>
<p>To say that Yue loved her job would be a gross overstatement, but she didn’t hate it, she was good at it, and she made a lot of money. Which, in today’s job market, was the closest she ever expected to come to loving her job. Though she hadn’t spent her childhood dreaming of being a stewardess, it was exactly the kind of work she could handle. She had the demure and beautiful appearance that people expected, she was good at calming people down and mediating conflict, and she could bow and scrape without losing her cool. Her exemplary performance meant that she was quickly promoted to working in the first class section of the plane. It came with its own disadvantages, but overall Yue was happy in her work.</p>
<p>The flight from Boston to Cancun was a little over four hours, and it was Yue’s second flight of the day. She had been able to rest in the cabin for the first hour of the trip, eating the lunch she hadn’t had a chance to consume after her first flight. She finished eating and had strapped on her shoes just in time for the other flight attendant, Suki, to duck in through the door. </p>
<p>“Your turn to make the rounds,” Suki said wearily, sinking into the tiny chair available and sighing with relief. Yue adjusted the collar of her shirt, checked a pocket mirror to ensure that her makeup was still intact, then pasted a pleasant, empty expression on her face. The first class section was about two-thirds full, and mostly filled with young adults about her age. There were a few older people, but the cabin was largely composed of twenty-something’s splurging on their vacation to Mexico. Yue made her way down the center aisle, checking in with everyone that was awake.</p>
<p>“Excuse me, miss!” Yue was hailed by a woman flapping her hand in the air, who seemed unfamiliar with the call button above her seat. She put on her best customer service smile, which didn’t waver even as she approached the woman and saw that she was “holy crap I am definitely gay” beautiful. Her brown skin was a shade darker than Yue’s, and she was showing an awful lot of it in the strappy tank top she was wearing. A truly shocking amount of glossy brunette hair cascaded down her shoulders, elegantly framing her face. Said face beamed up at her with an open, radiant smile, and by now Yue was close enough to see the delicate silver stud in her nose piercing.</p>
<p>If Yue didn’t have nerves of steel, she would be a nervous wreck right now. As it was, she was very proud of herself when her voice came out perfectly steady. “How can I help you?”</p>
<p>“Hiiiiiii,” the woman said brightly, and Yue realized that she was ridiculously, sloppy drunk. Tearing her attention away from the passenger’s attractiveness, Yue could fully take in the scene in front of her. The woman was sitting at the window, the seat next to her empty except for a photo of a man that was sloppily taped to the headrest. Both seats had their tray tables open. The one in front of the empty seat had three mini whiskey bottles, and the woman’s had several plastic cups of melting ice and Coke cans. </p>
<p>It was not the weirdest thing Yue had ever seen on a plane, but it was definitely in the top ten.</p>
<p>“I would like another Coke and whiskey please.” The woman spoke slowly, carefully enunciating each word, clearly compensating for her intoxication. “In fact, drinks all around! On me!” her volume increased suddenly and she half-rose to her feet, gesturing out wildly with one arm. A few scattered cheers and laughs went up throughout the first class section.</p>
<p>“Of course, a Coke and whiskey coming right up,” Yue said smoothly, already turning back to the galley.</p>
<p>“And drinks for everyone else,” the woman repeated, now fully seated again. “We’re celebrating!”</p>
<p>Yue paused. “You...want to buy drinks for the rest of first class?”</p>
<p>“I said what I said! Drinks for everyone, on me.”</p>
<p>Utterly bemused (and yet still somehow charmed) by the very strange, very drunk woman’s order, Yue went through the rest of first class to take drink orders, clarifying over and over again that it was free. Her and Suki quickly scrambled to prepare all the drinks and get them out to the palpably-more-cheerful passengers. Shouts of gratitude went out to the patron of seat 7A, who loudly insisted that everyone else be served first. Finally, Yue returned to the woman, bearing a can of Coke, a mini bottle of whiskey, and another plastic cup of ice. </p>
<p>“Thank you…” she trailed off, squinting her eyes at Yue’s nametag. “What does that say?”</p>
<p>Normally, Yue quietly seethed when people pretended her name was difficult to pronounce, but she suspected that the woman was having a hard time physically reading the letters. “Yue.”</p>
<p>“Yue! That’s a beautiful name!” Yue was pretty sure that her lifetime of keeping up a cool and collected demeanor was specifically for this moment, so she wouldn’t blush when a pretty girl said she liked her name at work. “I’m Katara.”</p>
<p>Now was the time for Yue to excuse herself and go back to the front of the plane. Instead, she found herself asking, “What are you celebrating?”</p>
<p>“I am celebrating my freedom,” Katara said decisively as she unscrewed the whiskey bottle. She poured a generous amount of it into the cup, barely leaving any room for the soda. </p>
<p>“Oh.” Yue had no idea what that meant. “Congratulations?”</p>
<p>“Yes, congratulations to me,” Katara agreed, popping open the can of soda with a flourish. “Because my shithead fiance dumped me the day before our wedding, and I couldn’t get a refund for our honeymoon, and now I’m going to Cancun alone.”</p>
<p>Stunned, Yue could only gape as Katara casually poured Coke into her cup, as though she hadn’t just dropped an insane amount of personal information all at once. “What?” was all Yue could stutter out. All of her usual decorum was gone, eradicated by Katara’s proclamation.</p>
<p>“Yep!” Katara smacked her lips on the ‘p,’ stirring her amber drink with the small plastic straw. “This was his seat.” She pointed to the photo next to her. From here, Yue could see an attractive young man with shaggy brown hair and a toothpick sticking out of his mouth. He had on Aviator sunglasses and an arrogant smirk. “I paid for an all-inclusive trip to Cancun for our honeymoon, because Jet didn’t have a bank account, because ‘he doesn’t believe in handing our money over to large corporations.’” She held up her hands to make air quotes on the last sentence, lowering her voice in a mockery of her ex-fiance. </p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” was all Yue could think to say. The longer she stayed, the more she noticed. Katara’s eyes were puffy and red, there were crumpled tissues in the seat pocket in front of her, and her hand shook when she picked up her drink. “Are you okay?”</p>
<p>“Actually, could you sit with me for a minute?” Yue was not expecting the question, and the answer had to be <i>no, absolutely not.</i> Even if she didn’t have any work to do right now, it was completely against the rules to sit down with the passengers. Yue never broke the rules. </p>
<p>Yue also didn’t usually have gorgeous girls looking up at her with imploring eyes that were suspiciously wet. She looked around, but there was nobody to catch her except for the other passengers, who were all still raucously enjoying their free drinks. Wondering exactly what was coming over her, Yue slid into the empty seat next to Katara. The picture of Jet was right at eye level with her, but she did her best to ignore it. </p>
<p>“It’s not like the warning signs weren’t there, you know?” Fortunately, Yue didn’t have to ask any more questions to prompt Katara to talk. “Like, a month after we started dating, I get home from work and he’s sitting on my front porch all mad, and asks who that <i>guy</i> is.” She took a big gulp of her drink, a tiny shudder going through her body at the burn of the alcohol. “And I’m like, what <i>guy?</i> And he starts shouting and says that he came to surprise me at work for lunch, and saw me walk out and hug a <i>guy</i> and then get in his car.” A single tear spilled over her lower lash line, and she angrily wiped it away. “And I’m telling him that it was my <i>brother,</i> and finally I get angry and storm past him inside and lock the door behind me.”</p>
<p>“Oh my god,” Yue breathed. Jet’s smirk in the photo started to look a little less smug and a little more sinister the more she looked at it.</p>
<p>“Anyway, he apologized and we talked, and he said he had been cheated on before so he was really sensitive about it, and I <i>get that.</i>” Katara sniffled and finished off her drink. It was time for Yue to ask if she wanted a refill, but she found herself frozen in the seat. “And I told him I wasn’t that kind of girl, and he seemed to believe me. But it was always something. Someone.”</p>
<p>“Who was it this time?” Again, it felt like Yue’s mouth was doing the talking without any input from her brain, which would have reminded her that it was inappropriate to pry into a customer’s life.</p>
<p>Katara, luckily, didn’t pick up on her unprofessionalism. “My best friend, Aang. We’ve known each other for years. We used to date, but broke up forever ago. And the stupidest thing is, Aang has a boyfriend now!” Katara’s voice rose again, her tone turning more angry than heartbroken. “Him and Zuko have been together longer than Jet and I have been. Had been,” she corrected herself. “Anyway, I get home from my final dress fitting yesterday, and all his stuff is cleared out and there’s a fucking <i>note</i> on the living room table.” To Yue’s horror, Katara dug around in her pocket and pulled out a piece of notebook paper that had clearly been ripped apart then taped back together.</p>
<p>“Dear Katara,” she read out loud, holding the paper out from her face like someone that needed glasses to read and wasn’t wearing them. “I can’t be with someone I can’t trust. I wish you all the best. Jet.”</p>
<p>“Wow.” Yue hesitated, one hand wavering in the air, before she placed it comfortingly on Katara’s forearm. “I’m so sorry, that sounds awful.”</p>
<p>Katara wiped her free hand under her eyes, then placed it on top of Yue’s hand. In an unexpected display of intimacy, Katara curled her fingers around Yue’s and squeezed once. Yue froze, and Katara untangled herself without further comment.</p>
<p>“Anyway,” Katara took a deep, shuddering breath. “That was two days ago. I figured it would be better to mope in Cancun than at home.” She met Yue’s gaze and held it, and Yue’s breath caught in her throat. “Thank you for listening. Sorry I’m such a mess. I must sound like a lunatic.”</p>
<p>“No!” Yue answered way too quickly, and Katara laughed. The sound sent warmth spiraling through Yue, down to the tips of her fingers and toes. Yue glanced up towards the front of the plane, where Suki was glaring at her murderously. She was lucky that Suki was a good enough friend not to call her out, but she did have to get back to work. If only Katara would stop <i>looking</i> at her, stop leaning in so that Yue could smell the whiskey on her breath.</p>
<p>“I have to do another round,” Yue explained, the apology clear in her voice as she slowly stood up. She paused, then the rest spilled out all at once. “When I’m done, I could come back?”</p>
<p>Katara grinned at her, dimples peeking out at the corner of her cheeks. “I’d like that. I don’t think anyone else will mind, after another round of drinks.” She raised her voice on the last part of the sentence, loud enough that all of first class could hear. There was another round of whooping and hollering from the other passengers, and nobody seemed inclined to complain that the flight attendant wasn’t giving them as much attention.</p>
<p>The party atmosphere quickly escalated as Yue took everyone’s orders and brought out more drinks. Having already broken a rule, she was feeling reckless, and was inclined to slip extra liquor bottles to the other passengers. The volume in the cabin rose, and someone began playing music on their phone. When Yue was finally able to make her way back over to Katara, the other woman seemed to be in much higher spirits. She was laughing and dancing in her seat, as many of the other passengers were doing. Interestingly, Jet’s photo was taken down from the spare seat, and both it and the note were out of sight.</p>
<p>“Yue!” Katara exclaimed, as though the stewardess hadn’t been within view for the past few minutes. The other woman grabbed her hand and dragged her down into the seat next to her, like they were old friends. When Yue tried to pull her arm away, Katara held on tightly, examining her wrist. She rubbed her thumb over Yue’s pulse point, and Yue realized too late what she was looking at. </p>
<p>“Is that a tattoo?” Katara asked, looking up at her with a mischievous glint in her eye. Katara had managed to wipe off the concealer that Yue covered the small crescent moon that was tattooed on her wrist. </p>
<p>Yue blushed, actually flustered for the first time so far. “Yeah, we’re not supposed to have any visible tattoos or piercings. I must have forgotten to touch it up between my flights today.”</p>
<p>“Hmm. Bad girl,” Katara murmured, running her thumb lightly over the indigo ink. Yue’s heart rate tripled, going so fast that she was pretty sure Katara would be able to feel it in her wrist. </p>
<p>“I guess,” Yue giggled nervously. “We all have that phase in college, right?”</p>
<p>Katara laughed, more than Yue would have expected for her barely-a-joke joke. “Yeah, I guess we do.” She held out her other arm to show Yue the tattoo on her own wrist. It was a stylized wave in a circle, also outlined in dark blue ink. “Why’d you get the moon?”</p>
<p>“My name means ‘moon,’” Yue shrugged, a little self-conscious. “And I used to be really into astronomy and stuff like that.” She had actually been obsessed with space for much of her childhood, but had been teased for being a nerd and a girl. She had given up on her dreams of studying the moon before she hit middle school. “What’s the wave for?”</p>
<p>“I’m a marine biologist.”</p>
<p>“<i>What?</i>” Yue yelped, jerking her arm out of Katara’s hands (had Katara been holding her hand this whole time?). “That’s so cool!”</p>
<p>“It is!” Katara agreed enthusiastically. “I’m a marine mammal physiologist. For the past few years I’ve been studying crabeater seals in Antarctica.” She dug her phone out of her pocket and flipped through her photo gallery, handing the device over to Yue. The photo on the screen was Katara, in full winter gear, absolutely glowing with joy as she crouched next to a large gray seal on a glacier. </p>
<p>“That’s amazing,” Yue echoed her previous statement, her eyes glued to the phone screen. Her family was from Alaska, and she had gone to visit a few times, but she had never done anything as intense or amazing as <i>study seals</i> in <i>Antarctica.</i> “What got you into that?”</p>
<p>“I had always been interested in the ocean and science,” Katara explained, carelessly tossing her phone on the tray table in front of her. “Then when I was in high school, I had this super sexist biology teacher who said that women were too emotional to be good researchers.” Her face puckered into a frown at the memory, and Yue grimaced in sympathy. “That got me <i>furious</i>, so I placed out of his class and started taking my science classes at the local college. And now here we are!” </p>
<p>Yue found herself staring, wondering what act of God had brought such a stunning and intelligent woman into her life, even for this brief moment. “That’s incredible. You’re incredible.” She cleared her throat, not intending to say that last part out loud. Katara gave her a smug look, holding her gaze for an unnervingly long time. “I’ve never done anything like that,” Yue added ruefully. </p>
<p>“You’re young, there’s still time,” Katara said breezily. “If it helps, I’m not usually this talkative. I’m going to be very embarrassed when I sober up.” </p>
<p>“I guess we better make sure that doesn’t happen until you get off the plane,” Yue teased, enamored as ever by Katara’s honesty.</p>
<p>Yue spent the rest of the flight alternating between doing her actual job, and sitting with Katara. She had pulled Suki aside and quickly explained the situation. Suki had raised her eyebrows as Yue belabored the point that the woman was <i>grieving,</i> and needed someone to talk to. “I just need you to pick up a little bit of the slack, just on this trip,” she implored.</p>
<p>“Fine, but only because I’ve never seen you flirt with a customer before, and it’s very cute.” Suki waved off Yue’s protestations, and Yue didn’t really want to spend the rest of the plane ride arguing with her.</p>
<p>Her and Katara talked about everything, from her hair (“It’s a weird genetic thing, my hair went fully white by the time I was 21”) to their families (they had both lost their mothers very young, and Katara had grown up with her father, brother, and grandmother). Yue stubbornly told herself that Katara was <i>not</i> flirting with her, and that she didn’t care either way. She was unable to convince her heartbeat, which jumped every time Katara laughed or touched her. </p>
<p>For perhaps the first time in the history of human flight, Yue felt that the end of the plane ride came all too soon. She had been tasked with collecting trash and tidying up the galley, and she missed most of the passengers leaving the plane. Therefore, she was surprised when she re-entered the first class cabin and there was still someone sitting in seat 7A.</p>
<p>“Hey.” Yue approached Katara, suddenly shy. Katara rose to her feet and slid out from the seat, wobbling dangerously. </p>
<p>“Hey,” she greeted, accepting the arm that Yue put out to steady her. The action brought them closer together, and Yue dizzily realized that Katara was half a foot taller than her. </p>
<p>“Did you need something?” Yue asked, her heart thudding painfully against her chest as she fully accepted that Katara had been patiently waiting in her seat until Yue had come back out.</p>
<p>“Well,” Katara started slowly, absently brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “I was trying to come up with a good way to ask for your number, but I haven’t thought of one yet. Any ideas?”</p>
<p>Yue licked her lips nervously, and a thrill went up her spine when she caught Katara following the movement. “I could just give it to you, then you wouldn’t have to worry about it.”</p>
<p>“Good idea!” They were both grinning widely as Yue pulled a notepad and pen out of her front pocket, jotted down her number, and passed it over. Katara accepted it, but still didn’t make any move to get off the plane. “I suppose it would be wildly inappropriate for me to kiss you at work, right?”</p>
<p>“Right.” Yue leaned in closer and Katara followed suit, her breath ghosting on Yue’s cheek. She was tempted to throw all caution to the wind and kiss the other woman then and there, but there were still plenty of other people on the plane besides Suki who could catch them.</p>
<p>Another idea came to her. “How long are you going to be in Cancun?”</p>
<p>“Two weeks.”</p>
<p>“I have a week off starting in a few days, and I fly for free. I can always meet you in Mexico and we can hang out.”</p>
<p>Katara’s eyes sparkled, and she beamed. “It’s a date.”</p>
<p>Yue had planned for her first kiss with Katara to be at sunset, on the beach, over a romantic candlelit dinner. Instead, Katara had swept her up in her arms the second she set foot outside, dipping her into the best kiss she had ever had in her life.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Katara's tattoo is her mother's necklace pendant! Also her job is based on a super cool female marine mammal researcher that I know, hooray for women in science!</p>
<p>Come say hi to me on tumblr <a>@praetorqueenreyna</a>.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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